Destiny
by zhead
Summary: AU following the bad end of MMX5. Zero and X did not knock each other out, and instead retreated at the end of their fight. Six months later...


Destiny

Notes:

This takes place in an AU set during the bad end of X5.

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Maverick Hunter HQ

X was tired. It had been 6 months since the crash of the colony, since his fight with Zero. Somehow, they both escaped, but Zero was still maverick, and X was unable to find him due to all the other problems occurring at the time. The crash itself damaged the Earth's atmosphere and conditions badly, and the new Zero Virus, as Alia called it, caused many reploids to either die or go berserk, killing many humans in the process. By the time the situation was contained, 30% of the humans and reploids had been wiped out.

Of course, then Zero was on the move again. Rather than spread the virus, he seemed to be absorbing it back into himself, explaining why the number of outbreaks started dropping, but at the same time Zero was becoming stronger. X tried to find Zero on several occasions, but was unable to make it in time, the 'God of Destruction' would already have moved on, leaving death in his wake. X once found a Sigma type body, musing to himself that Zero might have ended him and overwrote his virus coding, taking it back into himself.

'Why did this happen?' X went back to reading the reports he was given by the others. 50% of humanity had already been wiped out. The reploids fared worse, with only 30% of their initial population left. 'At least they don't go maverick anymore...' The survivors had been brought to the area built around Maverick Hunter HQ, which, for now, was the safest place on Earth. 'But only because I'm here... As soon as we find him, I'll have to retire him... Won't I?' X frowned. "Where are you Zero? Why are you doing this?"

His comm. began buzzing. "This is X. Status?" "Commander X! We've confirmed his location." X got up immediately and ran towards the teleporters. "Where?" "The coordinates are..."

Eurasia Crash Site

X surveyed the wreckage around him. There was no virus anymore, but he could sense it. Sense _him._

"Yo, partner. It's been a while." X turned around to find what he was looking. "Hey, why the grim face? You look beat. Shouldn't you rest?"

The crimson reploid was sitting on a hill of rubble. His once blue eyes were now glowing purple, a red aura swirled around him, flowing like a slow river. X looked at his once best friend and saw that he had changed since their battle. He was talking rather sanely, which seemed to contrast with the blood lust one could feel emanating from him.

"Between Eurasia crashing, you going maverick and wiping out half the world, yeah, I've been busy. You wouldn't mind letting me beat you, would you?" X raised his buster.

"Actually, I would. No fun that way. Our last fight was not as good as I had hoped. For one thing, you held back." Zero made a disappointed face. "And secondly, I wasn't at full strength. My 'father' and Sigma spread the virus around too much. It was not meant to be a virus, it was supposed to be MY power." Zero held his hand up, making a small orb of energy. "So, after that little draw, I decided to take it all back. I even killed the bald bastard while I was at it." Zero grinned wildly.

"And then you decided to test yourself by killing countless innocents." X was already in his Ultimate Armor. "I guess you're gone then, aren't you, Zero?"

Zero looked at X calmly. "That Zero was not the real me. This is the real me, X. And I think I should begin my mission now." The red aura began to blaze around him now. "Get ready MEGAMAN X!"

X charged a shot and let loose. "ZEEEROOOO!"

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Zero jumped off the rubble, and over X's shot, then shot two of his own shots at X. X blasted through those, and then jumped aside when Zero sent a saber slash at him. Steadying himself again, X charged his buster and sent a wave of energy at Zero. "TWIN SLASHER!" The red maverick readied his saber and cut through the incoming wave, then instinctively jumped back to dodge a plasma shot. Landing on his feet, Zero dashed at X and whipped out his saber in an horizontal arc. "SHIPPUUGA!"

X barely dodged, getting slightly singed by the tip of the saber before Zero continued his assault with a series of slashes. Dodging them, X took out a small cylinder and swung it at Zero. Zero moved his blade in a defensive position in time to find X crashing a beam saber of his own at him. "Hmm. So you actually kept that..." Zero mused, while X only gritted his teeth, keeping the two sabers locked. "..."

"But, lets see if you're actually any good with that." Smiling madly, Zero pushed against X and flung him away. X fell on his back a good few yards away from Zero, but the Red Demon had already closed the gap and swung his sword at him. X blocked the slash, then kicked Zero away, giving himself enough time to get up and start shooting again. Zero blocked or deflected every shot closing the distance again. X smiled, then slashed his saber, sending an arc at Zero, who barely side stepped the beam. "Well, someone has a few tricks..."

X continued blasting plasma shot after plasma shot a Zero, who dodged most of the shots, occasionally getting grazed by the blasts. Getting annoyed, Zero charged energy in his hands and punched the ground, causing energy to disperse under him, and then burst out of the ground in various areas, catching X off guard. "ARGH!" X was launched into the air from the blast, and Zero leaped at him, kicking his back, sending him back into the ground. Rising out of the crater made by his body, X gathered energy into himself and charged at Zero, the wings on his armor's back extending as he did. Zero raised the energy around himself into a barrier form to absorb as much of the damage from X's Nova Strike, but was still smashed into the air, along with X who was still dragging him along, before he crashed them both into the floor. Zero kicked X away, and stood up, clutching his shoulder. Gritting his teeth as his systems quickly repaired him, he gathered energy into his saber, and jumped into the air.

"This ends now X!" X started running to start another Nova Strike as he anticipated Zero's next move, but was too late. "ITTYOU RYOUDAN! GENMU REI!" The massive saber slash rushed at X and smashed him into the ground, cutting his armor badly as it did. X was unable to scream as he almost split in two. Zero smirked. "Well, I guess that's that then. I thought you'd do better. Oh well, I'll destroy you, and then go see how HQ is doing." Zero began walking towards X, but stopped when he sensed something off. Looking closely, he saw X getting back up, but something was different. X had discarded his Ultimate armor, using his standard armor instead. Looking at X, and looking at the scar on his body, Zero chuckled. Blue energy started running through X's hands, his forehead crystal started glowing, and his body started repairing. Zero then laughed maniacally. "FINALLY! You finally decided to cut loose! Alright then, BRING IT!"

X looked solemnly at Zero, and then put his hands together. Generating an unbelievable amount of energy in milliseconds, X shot a ball of energy at Zero. Zero got ready to deflect it, but his instincts told him to dodge. Moving at the last second, he felt a huge amount of energy burn him, despite not being touched by the ball, which hit some rubble in the distance, causing a rather large explosion. "What?" Zero looked at the explosion, then looked back at the Azure Hunter. "This is why I hold back. This is what I can do, and why I hate fighting. I'm afraid of what I am capable of, Zero, but it seems I have no choice anymore. You're too dangerous, and I'm the only one capable of stopping you. I'll finish this, right here, right NOW."

X charged at the Red Maverick, and punched him into a nearby hill, then unleashed a barrage of shots at him. Keeping his buster ready, X stopped firing, waiting for a response. Two blasts came from the smoking crater Zero was in. X calmly moved his shoulder to avoid one, then stopped the other one with his hand, absorbing it and analyzing it to improve his own firepower. Zero calmly walked out of the smoke, looking mostly undamaged, with the exception of his shoulder pads, which were now completely gone. Smirking, he blasted two wheel-like blasts at X, and watching him dodge them, sent a sword beam at him, before making the two blasts from before stop and launch themselves back, hitting X with one of them.

X reciprocated by shooting a large blast of slow moving energy, and then shooting another large blast at it, causing them both to overlap, then split into five fast moving blasts of energy, homing onto Zero. Zero cut through three, but was hit by the last two. Flinching, he began to charge energy into his saber again, only to find X's hand in front of his face. X grabbed his partner by the head and smashed into the ground, then dashed, dragging Zero across, before throwing him at a wall. As he flew, Zero threw his saber at X, stabbing him in the knee.

Pulling the blade out of his knee, X limped forwards till his internal skeleton was repaired, then ran where he threw Zero. Zero came running out of the hill, and both hunters punched each other simultaneously, but both missed, bringing their other hands to try again, knocking each other away. Skidding to a halt, both fighters then shot blast after blast at each other, occasionally rushing at each other again, clashing while canceling each others' attacks.

X then blasted another sphere out his hands again, but this time Zero took the blast, deflecting it with his arms, giving X enough time to charge energy into both his arms. Zero looked with shock as both of X's arms turned into busters was unable to move as X shot not two blasts, but two large beams of energy, catching him in between. "AAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" Zero fell down to the ground, both his arms practically melted, and the rest of his body now badly damaged. His systems were critical, and his repair systems were unable to keep up with the still increasing damage. He knew that. He was done. X won.

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X walked to his former comrade, looking at what he had done to him. The energies they both were resonating with were gone now. "Zero..." X said somberly.

Zero looked at the blue hunter, and chuckled. "What... are you... so upset... about? You... did... your job... Hunter..." X frowned at that. "You think it was easy Zero? You know what I felt, and what I'm feeling right now." "Hahahah... You... are... such a... softy... but... that's why... you won... eh?"

X knelt down next to Zero and listened. "Those... fears... and worries... keep you... from being... stronger... than you need to be..." X already knew what Zero was telling him, but let him continue. "I... was made... to destroy... you... I... am your... opposite..."

X narrowed his eyes. "You are, in a sense. You were made for battle, I was made for peace. You were made emotionless, I was made to be human. You are unchanging... I... I'm constantly evolving..."

Zero laughed weakly. "Right... you are... partner... Now then... Finish it..."

X slowly stood up, and aimed his buster at Zero's power core. "This... is your.. last... mission... Maverick Hunter... X..." Zero spoke, smiling.

X charged his cannon, and fired.

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Maverick Hunter HQ

The base was on high alert since X had left. Navigators were monitoring both X's energy signature and any sign of maverick activity near the base. Hunters were stationed to be prepared for the worst case scenario, and all civilians had been moved to safe zones.

It had been several hours, and there had been no word from X. People were beginning to lose hope, while some hunters started requesting permission to help him, despite X's orders to stay put. It was then a signal was sent to the base. A retrieval signal. The hunters began cheering, their commander had survived. Teleporting him back, everyone watched as the blue hunter walked out of the pod and smiled at them. "Mission accomplished. The target maverick has been destroyed." While most of the hunters began to cheer, congratulate X or go to spread the news, a few of them looked down in silence. They were older soldiers. They knew who X had to terminate. But no one else did. X wanted no one to know that the maverick who almost wiped out humanity and reploid-kind was none other than S Class Maverick Hunter Zero.

100 Years later

Eurasia Crash site: Area Zero

"Nature has grown here I see..." He hadn't been here in a long time. He was rather happy. The world was healing at its own course now as well. "Master X! You're too slow!" He looked towards the source of the voice, a young blond girl. "Ah. Sorry Ciel, I was just thinking about something." The young blonde made a face. "You're being like an old man today. Anyway, I found something!" X chuckled at the comparison, then followed the young girl. She brought him to an field of flowers, in the middle of which there was a metal slab stuck into the ground, with a circle carved into the slab. X sighed inside,smiling to himself. _'Survived all these years... Stubborn as ever...' _"Was this what you wanted to show me?" "Yeah, I was wondering if you could tell me what it is, and why it's even here." _'Hmm... Well, why not... I haven't talked about him to anyone since then..."_

Sitting down on the ground, and letting the young girl sit next to him, X began, "This is the grave one of the greatest and bravest heroes of the 22nd century. His name... was Zero."

Author's Note:

Welp, this was my 2nd fic. I took liberties with X's powers like ultimatemaverickx did when he made the 'Decisive Battle 2' video of his(And it is AWESOME) and with maverick Zero's mentality. He's sane and insane.

Epilogue mighta been long. Ciel is young here. 6 at least. Needless to say, X was able to keep thing together better because a certain BASTARD never got Zero's body, and there was no Mother Elf.

As for the Zero absorbing all traces of the virus... Well, it was his power source. Dont see why he cant simply take it all back in. Logic be damned, X and Zero's very abilities defy it, may as well give it the TTGL treatment when they go all out.

If I have copied anyone's idea, sorry. T'was unintentional.


End file.
